Sleeper hitters for Week 19 (July 27-Aug. 2)
Bryce Eldridge continues to exceed expectations in the strikeout department while delivering some of the best exit velocity readings in all of baseball, so even if it seems like his production is coming up short, he shouldn't be as available as he is now. A week with the third-best hitter matchups, mostly because of a four-game set against the Padres pitching staff, is reason enough to give him another look.
| ||
J.J. Bleday has had more downs than ups lately, but the overall stat line remains strong. The splits are especially favorable this week, with the Reds playing seven games at home, where he has a .986 OPS, and facing six righties, against who he has an .845 OPS.
| ||
Ty France is among the hottest hitters in baseball right now, batting .323 (30 for 93) with 10 homers in his past 26 games with an average exit velocity of 94 mph during that stretch. He was a player of some value in Fantasy back in 2021 and 2022, so this success isn't entirely out of left field. The Padres' matchups are favorable enough for you to take advantage of the hot-hand play.
| ||
Brayan Rocchio has been a serviceable middle infield option all season and has performed particularly well in his past 30 games, batting .283 (34 for 120) with four homers and three steals. He's a good bet to take advantage of the Guardians' fifth-ranked hitter matchups, which include Rhett Lowder, Mitch Bratt, Kohl Drake and Merrill Kelly.
| ||
Steven Kwan might be an even better bet to take advantage of the Guardian's favorable matchups, seeing as he's hitting .426 (23 for 54) with three doubles, two triples and four stolen bases in July. The performance has been a long time coming for a player who is normally a reliable source of batting average.
| ||
Vinnie Pasquantino's return from the IL has been lacking in thump, but he has hit .286 (8 for 28) while reaching base at a .412 clip in eight games. The Royals pay a visit to Coors Field to end Week 19 after getting to wail on the Twins pitching staff prior to then, so if the 28-year-old was going to salvage his season, it would likely begin now.
| ||
The underlying data is a lot stronger than the actual production for Trent Grisham, who's underperforming his xBA by about 30 points and his xSLG by about 50 points. What better time to get going than a week when the Yankees have the top-ranked hitter matchups, featuring pitchers like Noah Schultz, Anthony Kay, Jameson Taillon, David Peterson and Colin Rea?
| ||
Nick Gonzales doesn't have much pop, but he's hit half of his home runs (three) already in July, batting .397 (27 for 68) for the month. Particularly if you need batting average help, whether at second or third base, this week would be a good time to try him out, with the Pirates having seven games against the Diamondbacks and Reds pitching staffs.
| ||
It's been a couple years since Lane Thomas was of any merit in Fantasy, but he went into the break hot and came out of it homering in back-to-back games to give him a .316 (18 for 57) batting average, four homers and two steals in his past 15. He'd rank higher on this list if his schedule featured more lefties, but it's still stacked in his favor, if only for the series at Coors Field.
| ||
Heliot Ramos has been pretty quiet since the All-Star break, but he's still batting .272 (22 for 81) with five homers in 20 games since recovering from a strained quadriceps. He has enough thump to take advantage of the Giants' third-ranked hitter matchups, which include pitchers like Brandon Sproat, German Marquez, JP Sears and Walker Buehler.
|
